Over the All-Star break, Charles Barkley sat down with SI's Richard Deitsch and was a willing participant in a wide range of topics, including basketball analytics, the 2016 Presidential race, and the time during the middle of the 1992 season when he was traded from the 76ers to the Lakers.

Free agent Kyle Lowry is in Philadelphia for the start of the free agency, and the two head honchos for the Houston Rockets, coach Kevin McHale and general manager Daryl Morey, have flown to Philly to make their pitch to him first thing.

The ongoing saga surrounding Carmelo Anthony's possible free agency in July has dominated headlines even before his June 23 deadline to inform the Knicks of his intention to opt out and become an unrestricted free agent.

In the weeks leading up to the 2014 NBA Trade Deadline, reports were out that NBA insiders expected this to be one of the busiest trade deadlines in recent memory, or more specifically, since the 2011 lockout and the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that commenced.

Since word filtered out a couple weeks ago the Rockets were planning to move disgruntled center Omer Asik before a self-imposed deadline that ends tomorrow, December 19, all manner of rumors have leaked about the Celtics, the Sixers, the Hawks, Cavs, Bobcats, Bucks and probably a partridge and a pear tree.